How to Write a Web Request That Comes Back Right the First Time

Dollar figures in this article are US dollars. Our Australian prices are on the pricing page.

Whoever you buy web work from — a freelancer, an agency, a subscription — the single biggest lever on how fast it comes back and how close it lands is the brief. Not the budget, not the seniority of the person doing it. The brief.

The good news is that a useful brief is short. It is not a document, it is about six sentences, and most of them are questions you can answer without thinking hard. What follows is what we actually want to see, why each part matters, and a template you can paste.

The Six Things Worth Including

1. The Job, Not the Solution

Write "people phone to ask about parking and it wastes twenty minutes a day" rather than "add a parking section to the footer". The second forecloses the answer; the first lets whoever does it tell you that the real fix is a line on the contact page and a Google Business Profile field.

This is the same principle we apply to whole projects on our process page: the business problem is far more useful than the feature list, because the feature list is already an answer somebody guessed.

2. Who It Is For

"Existing customers who already know us" and "people who have never heard of us" need opposite pages. One sentence is plenty.

3. The One Action

Call, book, buy, fill in the form, walk in. Name one. If you name three, the page will do none of them well — this is the most reliable rule in the whole discipline.

4. What Must Be True

The non-negotiables. Legal wording that cannot change, a price that must appear, a phone number that must be clickable, a logo that must not be recolored. These are cheap to state up front and expensive to discover in revision three.

5. Anything You Are Copying From

A link to a competitor, another page on your own site, a screenshot. "Like our services page but for the commercial work" is a genuinely excellent brief and takes nine words.

6. What You Have and Have Not Got

Photos, copy, logins, brand files. If the answer is "nothing, can you write it", say so — that is a completely normal answer and it changes the plan rather than blocking it. What causes delay is the assumption running in each direction that the other side has the content.

The Template

Paste this and fill it in. It takes about four minutes and it is worth roughly two rounds of revisions.

Say How Big You Think It Is

You do not have to be right. Guessing the size is useful anyway, because it tells whoever reads it what you are expecting, and a mismatch between your guess and theirs is the single most valuable thing to discover before work starts rather than after.

• Small — a change, not a build. Copy, prices, hours, a broken link, a batch of posts, an update.
• Standard — a thing with a beginning and an end. A landing page, a month of content, a round of SEO fixes.
• Large — a whole site, a migration, a catalog. This should be split into stages, and you should see the stages before anybody starts.

We publish exactly what each size means in business days on our turnaround table, and the request form on MultiTasker One asks for your guess for precisely this reason. Guessing wrong costs nothing; we set the real size when we start and you see it change.

How to Ask for Changes Well

Revisions are normal and good. They get expensive when the feedback describes a feeling rather than a change.

• Weak: "it doesn't pop" / "make it more premium" / "not quite right".
• Strong: "the headline should be the biggest thing on the screen" / "our customers are 60+, the gray text is too light" / "swap the two middle sections".

If you genuinely only have a feeling, say that and point at something you like instead — a feeling plus a reference is workable, a feeling alone is a guessing game you pay for in rounds.

One more thing worth knowing: on most arrangements, unlimited revisions means unlimited revisions within the original brief. Changing what the thing is for is normally treated as a new request rather than a revision. That is reasonable — but check how your supplier draws the line before you need to, and see what unlimited actually covers.

Four Habits That Make Everything Faster

1. Send content before it is perfect. Draft copy in an email beats polished copy in three weeks, every single time.
2. Nominate one approver. A committee adds a week and rarely improves the outcome. It can be the same person who writes the requests.
3. Answer the blocking question first. When you are asked for one thing, send that one thing rather than waiting until you can send everything.
4. Never send a password. Add your supplier as a user on the account instead. We ask for access this way as a rule and say so on every intake form — anyone emailing you for a password is teaching you a habit that will eventually cost you the business.

Common Questions

What Should a Web Design Brief Include?

Six things: the business problem rather than your proposed solution, who the page is for, the one action you want a visitor to take, anything non-negotiable such as legal wording or a price, a link to something you are copying from, and an honest list of what content you do and do not already have. That is about six sentences and it is worth roughly two rounds of revisions.

How Do I Give Design Feedback That Actually Helps?

Describe the change rather than the feeling. "The headline should be the biggest thing on the screen" and "our customers are 60+, the gray text is too light" are actionable; "it does not pop" is not. If you only have a feeling, say so and point at an example you like instead — a feeling plus a reference is workable.

Do Unlimited Revisions Really Mean Unlimited?

Normally they mean unlimited revisions within the brief you originally submitted. Changing how something looks, reads or behaves is a revision; changing what it is for is usually treated as a new request. Check how your supplier draws that line before you need to rely on it.

Why Should I Never Email a Password to My Web Developer?

Because it teaches a habit that eventually costs you the business — once you are used to sending credentials by email, a convincing phishing email works. Add your supplier as a user on the account instead, or use a one-time secret link. Any reputable supplier will ask for access that way and will never ask you to type a password into a form.

How Do I Estimate How Big a Web Request Is?

Small means a change rather than a build: copy, prices, hours, a broken link, an update. Standard means a piece of work with a beginning and an end: a landing page, a month of content, a round of fixes. Large means a whole site, a migration or a catalog, and should be split into stages you see before work begins. You do not have to guess correctly — stating your guess is what surfaces a mismatch early.